South African film Inxeba (known internationally as The Wound) has
won the Best Film Award in the International New Talent Competition, at the current
Taipei Film Festival ahead of its African premiere at the Durban International Film
Festival.
This is a latest in a string of awards for the film, which explores tradition and
masculinity, and the clash between age-old rituals and modernity.
Described by Variety magazine as “a milestone in South African cinema’, the film
stars musician and novelist Nakhane Toure as Xolani, a lonely factory worker who
joins the men of his community in the mountains of the Eastern Cape to initiate a
group of teenage boys into manhood. When Kwanda (Niza Jay Ncoyini), a defiant
initiate from the city, discovers his mentor’s secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to
unravel.
At the Valencia International Film Festival held in Spain from 23 June to 1 July;
Inxeba was awarded the Luna de Valencia for Best Feature Film, as well as
the Best Actor Award for Nakhane Toure.
At one of the world’s longest-running film festivals, the Sydney Film Festival, held
from 7 to 18 June, Inxeba won the Audience Award for Best Feature, with
ScreenDaily describing it as “a measured consideration of class, race, self-loathing
and self-assertion.’
At the 41st Frameline, San Francisco’s international film festival, held from 15 to 25
June and where 147 films were screened, Inxeba won the First Feature
Award.
Shortly before that, it was awarded the prize for Best Feature Film at the 32nd Lovers
Film Festival, an LGBTQI festival held in Turin, Italy from 15 to 20 June.
In April, the film received the Jury Prize for Best Narrative at the 19th annual
Sarasota Film Festival in Florida, in the US. The festival is known as a world-class
platform for thought-provoking films from some of the best known and emerging
independent filmmakers.
At the MOOOV International Film held in March 2017, in Belgium, it garnered a Special
Mention.
Inxeba, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and later
opened Berlinale Panorama, was a 2014 Durban FilmMart project. This initial pitch
enabled the team behind it to obtain funding from a number of international
financiers, resulting in a co-production between South Africa, France, Germany and
The Netherlands.
According to a Sundance review, “John Trengove’s hard-edged but beautifully wrought
study of clashing Xhosa models of masculinity will be an eye-opener to outsiders —
and some South Africans too.’
Inxeba is the first feature from writer-director John Trengove, and is co-written
by Trengove, Thando Mgqolozana and Malusi Bengu. The Xhosa initiation ritual which
forms the landscape of the film is also the subject of Inxeba co-writer
Mgqolozana’s novel, A Man Who Is Not a Man.
Inxeba will continue to travel around the world, having been sold to 19
countries for theatrical release thus far, and will be distributed in South Africa by
Indigenous Film Distribution.
“The release strategy for South Africa ensures that the film will qualify as a strong
contender to represent the country in the Foreign Language Film nominations for the
2018 Oscars,’ says Helen Kuun, MD of Indigenous Film Distribution. “We are excited
about Inxeba as it is an authentic South African story that has gained traction
globally.’
Director John Trengove, lead actor Nakhane Toure, some of the cast as well as co-
producer Cait Pansegrouw, will be in attendance at the premiere.
Inxeba will be screened at 18h00 on Friday, 14 July at The Playhouse; 20h00
on Tuesday, 18 July at Ster-Kinekor Gateway; and 14h30 on Saturday 22 July at Ster-
Kinekor Gateway.
Bookings for the Playhouse are through Computicket, and for Ster-Kinekor
on the Ster-Kinekor website.
